A trip to Utah-Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Antelope Island State Park

5/21/2019 Comments

A trip to Utah-Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Antelope Island State Park

Bear River Migratory Refuge

Ever since I started to practice photography, bird photography was one of my favorite kind. But this type of photography takes time, and a lot of patience to make it right and outstanding. When I realized that near Salt Lake City there was a bird refuge I made it one of my “to visit” list. The Bear River Migratory Bird refuge is part of Fish and Wildlife Service, located in Brigham City. We arrived early in the morning, and made the Auto Tour Route that is a gravel road. It took us almost two to three hours to complete the ride, with some quick stops. This was in spring, so there were birds returning to the refuge, and in mating season.

I got to say that this place is beautiful, it has wonderful views of the Great Salt Lake, the Wasatch Mountains, and a lot of birds to photograph. I really wanted to spend more time there, take more time photographing the birds, but there were a lot, I mean, a lot of non biting midge flies that made it difficult to be outside the car.

Despite of the flies, I really loved this place.

Columns of midge flies

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

American White Pelican(Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Cinnamon Teal I(Spatula cyanoptera)

Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

White-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera) male and female. In the back, White face Ibis

American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Cinnamon Teal, female (Spatula cyanoptera)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

Antelope Island State Park

Antelope Island is a 42 square mile island, mostly of alluvial plains with prairie grassland. It’s the biggest island in the Great Salt Lake, and part of Utah’s State Parks, it was named for the pronghorn antelope found there where it was explore for the first time. Today is home for many species of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles and many more. The bison is the most abundant animal in the island, but they were introduce in 1893.

I visited the island the same day I went to the refuge, during the afternoon. Like in Bear River Refuge, there were a lot of insects at the moment we visit. This time, not only midge flies but mosquitos and biting gnats too. They even can be noticed in some photographs. This prevented us to get out of the car and walk some trails. We didn’t knew this in advance, that’s why we weren’t well prepared for it. But the island is also a beautiful place, with stunning scenic views of the reflecting waters of the Great Salt Lake, other islands and the Wasatch Mountains in the background. In a two to three hours ride we saw some wildlife, and made a quick walk at the beach (yes! with all the insects around us). I wish I can go back and spend a complete day there without any insects.